1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to text message transmission, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for transmitting and receiving a handwriting animation message service.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the development of various technologies in wired or wireless communication, multimedia and manufacturing improvements in hardware such as in Central Processing Units (CPU) and memory, power charging, and so forth, mobile terminal functionality has been emphasized more and more. Conventionally, a mobile terminal transmits necessary data to a communication partner through voice communication. However, since transmission and reception of text messages became possible desired data can be transmitted to the partner by using a Short Message Service (SMS) including simple text data in a situation where voice communication is not allowed or simple data needs to be transmitted.
The SMS has evolved into a Long Message Service (LMS) for long text data and a Multimedia Message Service (MMS) for multimedia files such as still or moving images, through which users can be provided with various benefits. In particular, the MMS which transmits a multimedia file, unlike the SMS or the LMS which merely transmits text data, has been increasing in demand from users due to extensibility in expression. The following describes a method for transmitting desired data by using the MMS.
FIG. 1 illustrates a mobile terminal which performs information transmission using a conventional MMS.
Referring to FIG. 1, a user may create an MMS message by inputting desired characters or attaching a desired image. An MMS input scheme illustrated in FIG. 1 is configured such that the user inputs a character using a keypad 105, but in a mobile terminal supporting a touch screen, the user may input the character directly onto the screen by using a finger or other input means such as a stylus pen. By using a file attachment box 103 provided below, a character input window 101, the user may retrieve an image stored in memory and attach the retrieved image.
However, the currently used MMS transmits data including a previously stored still image or moving image. When a transmitting mobile terminal desires to transmit handwriting content by using the MMS, the handwriting content has to be converted into a still image or moving image file by using a separate program, and then stored and transmitted. That is, when a receiving mobile terminal receives an image included in the MMS message, the image appears like a single still image and the handwriting content cannot be sequentially reproduced in the order the handwritten data is created by a user of the transmitting mobile terminal. As a result, handwriting of the user of the transmitting mobile terminal is not delivered with the appearance of animation.
Moreover, when a plurality of still images or moving images are transmitted, a user of the receiving mobile terminal has to download the attached plurality of still images or moving images and check each of them to identify an order of the still images or moving images created by the user of the transmitting mobile terminal.